National

Army thrashes two photo journalists in Kashmir going to cover a Militants funeral

Musaib Mushtaq, The Milli Gazette Online

Published Online: Sep 12, 2018

“Let us do our Job and let you do yours, I told the officer of Central Reserve Police Officer, before they rounded two of us and started thrashing us mercilessly,” says Firdous Qadri, a photojournalist with BBC 7 News.

Two photographers Sajad Hameed and Firdous Qadri working for various news agencies were rounded by CRPF personnel and assaulted on Tuesday (11 September 2018) when they were on their way to cover funeral of a slain militant in Handwara town of Kupwara District in north of Kashmir.

They said that the CRPF troopers initially stopped them from proceeding towards the native of the slain militant, Furqan, aged 18, a resident of Langate in Kupwara District and when they tried to argue, the CRPF men rounded them and thrashed them for more than ten minutes constantly.

Both of them suffered injuries and one had even to be rushed to the hospital. “They thrashed us for nearly ten minutes, What had we done?” asked Firdous Qadri.

Firdous was later shifted to hospital where he was given proper treatment and then later discharged from hospital

Speaking to a senior Police official from Handwara said that the incident is very unfortunate and the Police will investigate the matter.

“Journalists should be allowed to perform their professional duty, they must not be stopped from doing so,” the official said.

We hope you liked this report/article. The Milli Gazette is a free and independent readers-supported media organisation. To support it, please contribute generously. Click here or email us at sales@milligazette.com